A number of apparatuses exist in the prior art to apply antimicrobial solutions to food items. These include apparatus that carry whole chicken carcasses on hooks on conveyors through spray cabinets. This prior art also includes the use of conveyor belts to submerge cut up chicken parts into reservoirs with antimicrobial solution. In this prior apparatus, the antimicrobial solution, once applied to the chicken, may result in substantial runoff of the antimicrobial solution, which is recycled for use on the subsequent food items entering the system. The antimicrobial solution is applied to the food items as they pass through the application apparatus and the food items come out of the apparatus with the benefit of the application of the antimicrobial solution.
For example, the antimicrobial treatment solution may be sprayed onto the surface of the food product to be treated with a saturating spray, as are known in the art. Examples of antimicrobial treatment systems including spray application are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,742,720, issued Jun. 1, 2004, to Noland for SPRAY APPLICATION SYSTEM; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/471,846, filed Aug. 28, 2014, titled APPLICATION SYSTEM AND RECYCLE AND RELATED USE OF ANTIMICROBIAL QUATERNARY AMMONIUM COMPOUND; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/510,385, filed Oct. 9, 2014, titled ANTIMICROBIAL APPLICATION SYSTEM WITH RECYCLE AND CAPTURE, the contents of each are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.